Amar’e Stoudemire didn’t come to New York so his wife could have a reality television show, he came there to win. He came to transform the Knicks from a decade of despair back into a team you had to respect. He came before there were other stars there.

And he knows the Knicks were basically a .500 team last season because they were 22nd in the league in defense (using points per possession). That’s the end of the where the changes have to take place.

“I think it’s great,” Stoudemire said Wednesday. “It’s definitely what we talked about, improving defensively. With the help of Mike (Woodson) it’s going to be really positive for us. But it’s up to us as players to take that commitment and implement it.”

A commitment from players is nice, but the Knicks need some personnel changes, too — they need a defensive minded big man in the middle. Their Tyson Chandler or Kendrick Perkins. No doubt Ronny Turiaf will give it his all but he is not the guy, there aren’t many of those guys. The Knicks need one because I don’t think “commitment” do defense will be enough with this roster. If they are going to be serious title contenders they need some defensive players to go with the scoring forward tandem.

Sounds good Amare. The Knicks will never ever ever ever be contenders as long as Danfoni is the coach he is not preaching defene. He’s goin to be worried about Woodson taking his job well that would be a good thing. Start protecting the paint more Amare talk is cheap